Texas On My Mind

Confession: I didn't realize that Easter was this weekend until Wednesday afternoon when we were driving home from Dallas.  I considered not telling my family and skipping it. Easter is my least favorite holiday but not because I don't like Jesus.  I love Jesus, it's the Easter bunny that I despise.  I haven't forgotten about my little tif with the Mall Bunny and his handler last year.  I wish we could just focus on Jesus and leave the bunny and the chocolate out of it.  But the show must go on!  I'll hide eggs and buy a couple tiny chocolate bunnies.  But I've decided to make Brunch and serve corn dogs for Easter dinner.  It was the kids idea....I'm going with it!

The truth is I'm in a bit of a funk.  I'm experiencing post-vacation blues and I miss my family.  We really had such a great time and my kids got to know my parents a little better.  My Mom and Dad are getting older and it hit me hard.  In my head they are still in their 40's and I'm only 25.  But the reality is that we all can't hear very well and we fall asleep before the news comes on. We've got aches and pains and grey hair.

The old home town looks the same as I step down from the murano,
and there to meet me is my Mama and Papa.
Down the road I look and there runs Bobbi hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they'll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly.
It's good to touch the green, green, grass of home.
The old house is still standing, tho' the paint is cracked and dry,
and there's that old oak tree that I used to play on.

Spring Break

We're having a great time in Dallas on Spring Break!  It's been 5 years since I've been home and I missed it so much.  The kids are loving all of the dogs and cats to play with.  Between my parents and I sister they have 5 cats and 5 dogs. Alex has been worn out every night after playing outside in the yard and throwing balls!

Grandpa even put the kids to work.

We drove straight here from Denver.  800 miles and 14 hours in the car.  We discovered that we're too old to do this and also eating Sonic at 8pm is a bad idea too.  We've changed our plans slightly and will be taking TWO days to come home.

I've got more to show you but that will have to wait until I get back.

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

It's been a crazy day!  Keith and I were both selected to chaperone the Kindergarten field trip to the Mizel Art Center in Denver.  This was Keith's first time on a field trip and the teacher tried to break him!  He had two unruly kids in his group and he was extremely grumpy when we got home.

We saw Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse.  It's a lovely play about a young mouse named Lilly that is a self proclaimed Queen of the World who likes everything.  Everything, except for her brand new baby brother.  Lilly makes a couple new friends, deals with a narcissistic cousin named Garland and misbehaves in class because she isn't getting attention at home.  In the end, Lilly learns a lesson and decides her brother isn't so bad after all.

This play is based on the books by Kevin Henkes, tickets are on sale now through April 28th.  Contact The Mizel Arts Center for ticket info.


 

Disclaimer: I was not paid to review this play and my daughter was not compensated for her interview. All thoughts are her own.  I might have bribed her with chocolate to get her to speak but that is it.  No other compensation.  Thank you.

Ramblings

I'm going through Bachelor withdrawal.  We have two months until we get to see Desiree as The Bachelorette!  In case you want to put it on your calendar, the premiere date is May 20th.

On Friday I volunteered in Alex's classroom and ran the contractions center.  I giggled to myself that it was appropriate because I had been having contractions 6 years earlier.  One of the kids decided I needed a nick name and is now calling me C-Bone.  Another told me that he has to do his own laundry because his Mom is too lazy to do it.

Alex has been having a heck of a time passing his sight word tests and told us that it was because his teacher is too attractive.  She's distracting him!  He's also scrounging up every coin and dollar he can get his hands on to bid on a date with her next month at a school fundraiser.  Keith told him if he passed his sight word test he'd give him $10 towards his goal.

Guess who has two thumbs and passed his sight word test on Friday.

THIS KID!

We had a great weekend celebrating Mallory's birthday.  We started off with a little tea party.  Now she wants all of her meals served with all of this pomp and circumstance.   Should I call her Mary and get her a butler?

We bought a cake at Rheinlander's Bakery in Old Town Arvada, had lunch at Texas Roadhouse, went to the LEGO store so she could pick out one of her presents and then went to get a balloon.

Alex and I practiced spending lots of time in the car.  We're headed out on another road trip in a few days, this time to Dallas to visit my family!  The kids are super excited and I have no idea what we're going to wear.

selfie in the car

We spent Sunday putting together legos and I made an traditional irish meal.  I'm so glad that it only comes around once a year because I'm not a fan of corned beef and cabbage.

I couldn't help taking these inappropriate pictures because on the inside...I'm really a 12 year old boy.

Mia had too much Guinness.

How was your weekend?

and then she was six

As I pulled into our parking spot on Friday I realized that the little girl in the back seat had been awfully quiet.  I turned off the car and turned in my seat to see a quivering lip and tears about to spill out of two beautiful blue-grey eyes.

'What's wrong sweetie?' I asked.

In a small little voice she answered me.  'It's my last day being five and I'm just so sad!'

I crawled into the backseat, unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her into my arms.  As soon as her head touched my chest, she began to sob.  We stayed like this for about 20 minutes while I told her how great being six is going to be.  Soon....she'll be competing in her first science fair, we've got a whole summer to perfect swimming underwater and since she just learned to read, there are so many books to be devoured.  She'll be a 1st grader before you know it and I bet she'll lose some teeth this year.  There's ice cream to eat, pictures to draw and new friends to make!

Being five was nice, but being six is better.

As much as I'd love to keep her little and hold her in my lap forever....she's has to grow up.

This morning I served her Lucky Charms (a birthday tradition since it's always right before St. Patrick's Day) in fine china and her milk in her favorite Alice in Wonderland cup that her Grandpa gave her.  She's decided that she'd like to eat all of her meals this way and she'd like her Dad to be her personal butler.

I love you Princess!

Replacing Google Reader with Feedly

Note: Last night there was a mass exodus to Feedly and they are having a few technical difficulties.  Give it a few days and I'm sure everything will work fine.  As you can imagine, their servers and staff are under an enormous amount of pressure right now.  Be Patient!

You guys know that I love to research things and I really had fun with this one.  I know what I like and to tell you the truth, I didn't really like Google Reader.  Perhaps this is all for the best and now I have the chance to be truly happy with my reader experience.

Let's get started!

You need to connect Feedly to your existing Google Reader.  They will do all of the work for you...just click on the button.  Feedly also tells us that when Google Reader shuts down, they will have a program in place that will retain all of our information.  No Worries!

All of your categories are on the left.  You are putting your blogs into lists right?  I've been sorting blogs like this for years and it makes it so much easier to read.  Feedly has several different ways for you to view your blogs.  Let's go over them now.

If you want it to look something like your old reader then you will want to select the Titles view.  When you click on the little wheel, the list will come up.  Experiment with the different views until you find something you like.

When you click on a title, it will open the post up in the reader....like this.

To go to the blog so that you can comment, which you totally should because we all love to hear from our readers and it helps us sleep at night when we get comments, click on the title again.

Just a note here that this is also where you can share this wonderful post with YOUR friends.  You can google+, tweet, Facebook and email.  You will find those options right under the post title.  See that little +tag up there?  This is where you can tag a post that you want to save for future reference.  Those tags will appear under your lists on the left hand side.

There is one little button I need to warn you about.  The check mark.

If you want to mark your entire list as READ.  Go ahead and click that.  It will ask you (unless you turn that notification off) if you REALLY want to mark all as read.  I've hit it a few times already and panicked.     

If you want to go directly to a blog (so you can comment), there is an option under the Organize tab that is located right next to your pretty face on the left hand side.  

This is also where you can move blogs to a different list, and remove from your reader. 

If you have any question please ask them in the comments and I'll respond.  If I come up with anymore tips, I'll share them on my facebook page. 

Google Reader Retired!

Crap!

Now what? I'm looking into two alternatives. Feedly and NewsBlur. Both have mobile apps so that's nice. I'm researching and testing them now and I'll let you know what I find out.

 Stay Tuned.

 Okay. I just spent some time check out the two options that I found and I'm putting my money and my blog favorites in.....FEEDLY! Now only is it super easy to use and import your old google reader, but it has a mobile app that is easy to use. AND they have already addressed the problem on their blog. WINNING!

Go to their blog here to find out how to seamlessly change over your reader.

I just posted a tutorial about how to use Feedly.  

Bachelor Sean: Silver and Gold

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!  Lots and lots of spoilers.  Proceed at your own risk!

Every season that I blog The Bachelor, I feel like I've run a marathon!  I take exhaustive notes during the show and drink wine every single Monday.  It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it!

Sean and the ladies are still in Thailand but now they are joined by Seans parents, his sister Shay and her husband and children.  The kids are so cute!  They explain that they're here to help Uncle Seanie pick a girl and little Smith says, 'Emily didn't pick you!'  So funny!

They meet Catherine first.  She explains to Sean's Mother that Sean has taught her a lot about herself and she can actually be herself with him.  She wants great love! Her talk with Sean's Dad was very touching.  You can tell that he is a very sweet man and he asks thoughtful questions.  She tells him she wants a best friend for life and he tells her that she will have a family for life and that he'll treat her like his own daughter.  This was really a moving moment since we know that Catherine doesn't have a relationship with her own Dad right now.

Next is Lindsay, her hair looks darker to me.  The parents ask her the same questions but I don't feel like the answers are as deep or sincere as Catherine's were.  Lindsay plays the church card and tells Sean's Dad that she's been praying.  He tells her that they have been praying for Sean's wife since he was born and this makes all of us cry. I mean Lindsay, it makes Lindsay cry!  Lindsay breaks the mood by asking for Sean's hand in marriage.   Everyone is reunited and Sean's Dad jokingly says, 'okay, let's vote!'  He is a funny guy!

Sean talks to his Mom and explains that he's in love with both women and he doesn't know who to pick.  She encourages him NOT to propose if he doesn't know and that he can take more time.  She cries and Sean tells her that he is under contract by ABC to give a ring to someone will figure it out.  I wonder if he will go to Jared?

Sean ponders the dilemma he is in and wonders where his heart is going to tell him to go.  I think it's telling him to go to Jared.   BREAKING NEWS from Chris Harrison!  He has news from Sean that they have just learned in the last 24 hours!  Oh my gosh, what could it be?

Lindsay and Catherine get one more date each with Sean.  Lindsay gets a river rafting booze cruise and they light lanterns that say Love, Happiness and Family on them.  Catherine rides elephants and cuddles with Sean. They have a very hard time saying goodbye to each other and it's so painful not know what the next day brings.

Sean has made up his mind and is visited by Neil Lane NOT Jared.  He picks an amazing ring!

The ladies are getting ready for the big proposal.  One in Silver, one in Gold.  My husband breaks into song...Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold, everyone wishes for Silver and Gold.  Meanwhile, back in California....Chris Harrison is interviewing the losers and asking them who they think is going to be The One?  He talks to Bitter AshLee and all I hear is Blah, blah, blah.

Lindsay is the first to arrive and says this is the best day of her life.  She reaches Sean and he tells her that she is amazing and wonderful and he wants to give her his heart but it's leading him somewhere else.  But...he loves her.  WHAT?  Don't tell her that!  Lindsay whips her high-heeled shoes off and walks off but not before telling him that it's okay.  She's very gracious.  Sean runs after her and tries again to explain.

Sean goes back to the dock and waits.  Chris brings him a letter!  Who could it be from?  It's from Catherine and now he's scared thinking that she isn't coming but she is....she just wanted to make her feelings know to him one more time.

Catherine arrives and Sean doesn't waste any time telling her that she's the one for him.  They have had may unexpected, wonderful moments and she never ceases to amaze him.  He doesn't want to say goodbye to her anymore! He gets on one knee and pops the question....she says YES!  I'm crying.  Catherine is not.  I believe she is in shock!  He asks her if she's prepared to spend the rest of her life with him.  She says YES!  This feels like a Disney movie!  They ride off into the sunset on the back of an elephant.

The good news, that we learned at After The Final Rose is that these two are still going strong and she is moving to Dallas.  The big breaking news is that they are going to have their wedding on ABC!  YAY!!

I am now pleased to announce that the next Bachelorette is......Desiree!!  I'm so excited and happy for her.  I loved her since day one and if she can't be with Sean that I can't wait to see her as The Bachelorette!

I'm going to Dallas in a few weeks and I'm going to look for Sean!  Stay tuned....

EDITED:  Crap.  I guess I won't be stalking looking for Sean.  He's going on Dancing with the Stars which I PREDICTED on February 26th!!

Be A Blessing

I filled in for iKeith at school on Thursday.  He is the morning crossing guard and due to a parking snafu at work, he couldn't make it.  I was a little nervous but I wore my orange vest with pride.  I treated this job like all parts of my life....with passion and energy!

I greeted everyone with a Good Morning and a Have a Great Day!  When I encountered a child from one of my kids' classes, I yelled their name and high fived them.   I smiled and waved at the cars that went by at my direction and when I stopped my friend Debbie with my little stop sign, I did a little booty shake in the crosswalk for her benefit.

In other words.....I had a blast!

As I walked back to my car, I couldn't stop smiling.  What a wonderful feeling to spread joy and happiness everywhere you go.  I hope my attitude helped someone have a better day.  I hope I was a blessing to someone.

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.

 Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. 

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

 ~Tecumseh

Old School

Jennifer from Momma Made it Look Easy told me about a couple bloggers that are bringing back the meme.  Elaine and Heather will throw out monthly questions for you to answer.



1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

March 2003?  I was in the process of eradicating myself from a really bad relationship with a 40 Year Old Greek Virgin.  I was also living on my own for the first time in my life and working for a collection agency. I was looking forward to being single for a while but hopeful that Mr. Right was out there somewhere.

2. What 5 Things are on your To Do List?

Buy my daughter a cake and a birthday present.
Plan an Easter Egg Hunt for all 90 Kindergarteners with my friend Jill.
Go to Dallas for Spring Break.
Plan a Tea Party for my pregnant friend Jennifer.
Buy new jeans.

3. What 5 snacks do you enjoy?

Cookies
Ice Cream
Raw Macadamia Nuts
Cheese
Wine...it's made from FRUIT

4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire.

If I was a millionaire, I would buy a little house that needed some work and I'd take all of the cool ideas I've pinned on Pinterest and turn it into the most amazing house.  And I'd go to Sedona on vacation all by myself. 
 
5. Name some places you have lived.

I was born in Denver but moved to a little cow town called Greeley when i was 4.  I briefly lived on a 660 acre cattle ranch and I still need to blog about that.   I returned to Denver when I was 30 which was a good thing because my future husband was here.  We lived in UTAH for 4 years.  A hardship tour....and now we're back home in Denver.

6. Name some bad habits you have.

I have a bad habit of not folding or putting away....socks.  They live on my bed.  I have a really bad habit of hiding candy from my family. iKeith thinks I have a bad habit of leaving pans soaking in the sink. 

7. Name some jobs you have had

My very first job was the summer of my 16th year when I painted gas meters for Greeley Gas Co.  Me and two gals who became great friends walked all over Greeley, from house to house...painting the meters.  I was skinny and tan when the summer was over.   On my 18th birthday, I began my auto parts career.  I started as a parts delivery driver and 5 years later I managed the store.  I've also worked as a manager of an auto repair shop and a gas station.  Now, I have the best job in the world....MOM and WIFE.

My friend Mimi tagged me.  How old school is that?  I decided to oblige her but I'm not tagging anyone.  Feel free to take the questions and answer them yourself.  

1. Display the award logo on your blog. What logo?
2. Link back to the person(s) who nominated you. Okey Dokey
3. State 7 things about yourself. 
4. Nominate 15 bloggers for this award. For Real?
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination by linking to one of their specific posts so that they get notified by pingback. 

Here goes: Seven things about me right now:

1. I can not have ice cream in my freezer or I will eat it.  All of it.

2. Mallory's 6th birthday is in 9 days and I didn't plan a party this year.  I'm regretting it.  :(

3.  I bought an exercise ball and my husband stole it from me to sit on at his desk. Now my ball smells like balls. 

4. I can't stop volunteering for PTA.  I think I might have volunteered to be the president. 

5. I love corndogs

6. I'm watching Days while I type this and I wish my name was Chole Lane.

7. My husband just commented on my blog!!!!!  

Smash Your Year: February

To see January's Smash Your Year pages, click here. 

My goodness, February was busy!

We went to see Phineas and Ferb Live,  we had Kindergarten Valentine's Parties, Dr Seuss's Birthday/Jammie Day and it was Denver Restaurant Week.  We had a very full calendar and we had a blast!

Other notable items on the list.  Mallory learned to read and Alex had a double ear infection, but it didn't keep him down....in fact I think he rather enjoyed the extra pampering from me.

I love the idea that Jessica shared with us last month about lifting the picture and writing underneath it!  Brilliant!  Mallory and I experimented with cutting out the background on a picture in her Hello Kitty Smash Book and I like it.

I like stacking the pictures, because I have so many there wouldn't be room to put them all on the page. I tried another new trick and attached the kids valentines to paper clips and attached them to the spiral.  This way they are floating and can be moved to see more.  That is actually pictures of the valenties...to make them extra sturdy.

I added another word to my cover.  Do you agree?

Are you SMASHing YOUR YEAR?  We want to see your pages!

Leave the link in the comments or share it on my facebook page.

March Goals

February was a whirlwind of activity!  We had lots of plans and I became the PTA Summer Education Chair that resulted in tons of research and many meetings.  I'm excited for what we're planning and I think the kids will love it!

You will notice that many of my goals revolve around Dallas.  I'm going to the Big D and I mean Dallas for Spring Break.  My parents and my sister live there and my kids have never been to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We are all super excited!



 February Goals:

[  ]Lose 4 pounds  Lost inches, but no weight
[X]Make Bread  Made over my Mom's Banana Bread recipe
[X]Post Smash Your Life pages  Done!
[X]Read 3 Books  A Good American, The End of Your Life Book Club, Here I Go Again
[X]Write in my food journal Done!
[  ]Run 10 times  Ran Two Times 

 March Goals:

[ ] Go Shopping with my Sister in Dallas
[ ] Have a blogger meet up in Dallas
[ ] Go to Fort Worth
[ ] Touch a cow
[ ] Lose 2 pounds
[ ] Complete Lose a Jean Size Workout 9 times
[ ] Run 7 Times
[ ] Make Pasta
[ ] Have Breakfast with Mom's from Mallory's Kindergarten Class
[ ] Become the PTA President

What are your goals this month?  

Bachelor Sean: Women Tell All

I'm not going to really  re-cap the show.  It's hard to do because there is so much back and forth.  It was an interesting show because Tierra was there and AshLee got to get some closure with Sean and I think she officially put the nail in the coffin of any hope that she'd be the next Bachelorette.

Tierra

Tierra says that it's really hard to be her, because she lights up a room with her sparkle and bitches be hatin because they don't accept her for the shining star that she is.  She claims that she never said a bad word about anyone, to the best of her knowledge.  She did all of this with a straight face.  Her eyebrow backed her up and her forehead dent didn't show up. She has NO COMMENT about her fake/pretend fiance that she became engaged to in January.   I think she should win an emmy for best 'reality show acting'.

Desiree

Sitting ten feet away from each other, you could still feel the chemistry between Des and Sean.  I was bummed to see that she's growing out her bangs because I just cut my bangs last week because of her.  I think ABC should make Desiree the next Bachelorette!

Sarah

I realize that Sarah is the first handi-capable contestant on the show and breaking up is hard but I don't really know why she was on the hot seat.

AshLee

AshLee is blonde now and is no longer in love with Sean because turned those feelings off....like a light switch. However, she is super confused about why Sean would tell her that he didn't have feelings for Lindsay and Catherine and that he only had eyes for her.  She thought she had this in the bag!  Sean, claimed that he NEVER said such a thing and that he would NEVER say such a thing because it simply isn't true.  When asked WHY he sent her home, he spoken the truth in the most delicate way he could.  AshLee has too much bagage.  Airlines, have less bagage then AshLee.  And he just couldn't see having a happy home/family while dragging all this sadness and neediness around. This is why AshLee should not be the next Bachelorette....because no man in his right mind wants a piece of that drama.

As for the final two ladies.....ABC gave Catherine the romantic, loving edit.  And they made Lindsay look like a loon.  Now, the big question is....who wrote the letter and does Sean get down on one knee?

What do you think?  Is AshLee telling the truth or is she living another life with the voices in her head? Does Tierra really sparkle and does she really have a fiance?  Will Sarah find love?

Date Night Scavenger Hunt

Keith and I went on a date Saturday night.  We don't get out much so it was a big deal.  My dear friend Heather watched our kids for us and we were off!   My friend Bridget was also going on a date with her husband so we challenged them to a Date Night Scavenger Hunt!  We came up with a list of things for each other to do and take pictures of.  Here was our list for Bridget:

Here is their list for us:

  You can see our pictures on Instagram under the hashtag #denverdatenight.  We had a great time and Keith loved doing all of these silly things! I'm bummed that we couldn't find a dog or a bike.  Thank you Bridget and Chris for helping to make our date night fun.

Here are my favorites!

Keith outside of our friends' business

This is my new PTA President campaign poster.
Vote for me...or else!

I wrote our names on the wall in the bathroom.

1 Tequila, 2 Tequila, 3 Tequila...FLOOR!

Me.  On the slide at Little Man Ice Cream. Valet asked me how much Tequila I'd had.

Home!